Continued Survival

I got up and continued on my way, picking an arbitrary direction in the everlasting darkness to head into. I looked up into the sky again, and through the thick canopy, tiny shards of light escaped through, indicating that the sun had risen.

My lips were cracked and dry, and my throat parched...I hadn't had any water since I was in the cave. I could feel beads of sweat falling down my face, I was losing water fast and I would be dehydrated if I didn't find water soon. All I could do was hope that I could find water on my journey, all by chance, because there were no signs of it anywhere nearby.

I kept walking, only in my pants, my shirt too worn out and torn to offer any protection. Most of it used to tie my spear properly. I kept walking and walking, with no end in sight, my breath getting heavier, my vision getting more blurry as the hours went by. My hands and feet were sore, I was feeling weak and my steps became shallower. I had lost a lot of water and I had become dehydrated, this couldn't go on for too long.

My footsteps were getting heavier and heavier, all my body wanted to do was collapse and take a rest, but I knew that it meant death. Suddenly I heard a small clink, a droplet of water falling down near me with a tiny almost inaudible slash. Whether it was desperation or the chilling quietness of the forest, I don't know, but the sound reached my ears. Then I heard another one, and another one and another one...before I knew it there was the ever-so-familiar thrashing sound of rain all around. Bashing against the trees and the thick dark canopy of the leaves.

I quickly dug into my pocket and brought out the jackal hyde I had skin, now dried, almost like a leather pouch. I held it in my hands like a bowl to catch the water and stood directly under the leaves from where the water was trickling down slowly. My throat was dry and parched and every single drop that fell I wanted to feel on my tongue but I knew that it would not be enough. Waiting for the pouch to fill would be better. I rationalized trying to convince myself to wait.

After waiting for a few minutes, my arms started getting tired. I waited till the porch was almost full and plunged my face into my palms. The water contained small bits of wood and dust, but I couldn't care less. As the cold water flowed down my throat, I could feel tears of relief falling down my cheeks. As I let out a satisfied sigh, I pushed out the pouch again, waiting for more water. Standing still in the rain, I could feel myself getting drenched, the cold touch of the water cooling my skin. I felt at peace at that moment.

I could finally breathe deeply as I composed myself as the shattering noise of the rain enveloped me. It was more comforting than the eerie silence of the forest before.

I gathered a little more water in the pouch and tied it as tightly as I could with the remaining piece of my shirt I had stuffed into my pocket. I ran my hand through my wet hair, trying to remove as much water as could. I didn't know when the cold would set back in and drying myself off as fast as possible was my best bet.

The rain was continuous and unrelenting, Lightning striking every so often as I could hear the trees get demolished by it. I was thankful the rain had made all the dead and dry leaves wet. The lighting would have no doubt created an unstoppable fire, enveloping me at the centre of it. Still, I stayed away from trees as much as possible in fear of being struck.

The ground had become mushy and muddy, covering my bare feet in it as well. It was getting harder to walk, but with no shelter in sight, I had to keep moving. Chewing on the charred jackal meat along the way.

The rain which had previously felt cool was now irritating. The constant feeling of raindrops on my face slowly got more annoying. I had read about a similar form of torture once. Being bound and laying down, with drops of water constantly but irregularly falling on your face, for days on end. Not letting you sleep, entering your nostrils and eyes, and giving you pain. The irregularity of the pace not giving you the comfort of anticipation. Slowly but surely driving you insane, as you come to accept your fate. Willing to do anything to escape it, yet knowing you are helpless.

As my train of thought was heading in this cynical direction, My eyes caught a glimpse of a tiny madder red object in my peripheral vision. As soon as I turned I realized nothing was there, I held out my spear just in case but as I waited for something to happen, nothing did.

I continued walking, as vigilant as ever. It might have been a figment of my imagination but I couldn't take a chance. I made sure to make my steps as soft as possible, but hours went by and nothing seemed out of the ordinary and even the rain had gotten weak. As much as I hated to, I needed to pick up my pace If I was to get anywhere, and being slow and cautious wasn't going to help. In the end, I made the decision to start walking faster again, ignoring my surroundings and walking straight into the unknown, hoping to find shelter.

But the minute I let my guard down was when I realised I had made a big mistake. As the thundering footsteps and the bone-chilling growls that had haunted my dreams were audible again, I ground my teeth as I realised that I had fallen into a trap. The creature was intelligent, it made me think I was in danger when I really wasn't. Knowing I would have to let my guard down eventually.

As I looked at it straight in the eyes again, it crouched in the darkness, completely invisible except for its red eyes, something felt off. Those eyes felt different somehow, I couldn't pinpoint why, but the ones I had seen previously did not belong to this creature.

But all that had to wait as more important things were happening around me. I slowly started backing away, looking for a good opportunity to run but with every step I took, the creature took one thundering step forward. This game went on until the creature came out into the dim light and I could see the familiar face and the ferocious teeth of the tiger, more hungry than ever. I knew at this moment that running would be nothing more than futile.

I took a deep breath and raised my spear, waiting for the tiger to strike.

Waiting for death.